DCHP-3

baynoddy

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)

Spelling variants:
bay noddy, bay-noddy, bay noddie

n. — Newfoundland, derogatory, Urban culture

an inhabitant of a coastal settlement.

Type: 1. Origin — In Newfoundland, noddy (OED-3, s.v. "noddy"(2b)) is an alternate name for a subspecies of the northern fulmar, a sea bird that inhabits the regions of the north Atlantic Ocean (DNE, s.v. "noddy"). When used pejoratively in reference to people from a Newfoundland outport, as opposed to St. John's, the prefix bay is added (see the 1966 quotation). It is unclear whether noddy is a reference to the fulmar, which is known to bob its head in flight (Templeman 1945: 138), or a preservation from British English, where noddy is defined as a fool or simpleton (EDD, s.v. "noddy"). See baywop for a parallel term.
See also COD-2, s.v. "baynoddy", which is marked "Cdn (Nfld)".

Quotations

1924
By the men's glances at the city dwellers or "carner boys," no love seemed lost between them. The city folk looked equally disdainful of the "bay noddies" or outport men.
1950
To all intents and purposes we have been placed in the category of "Bay-noddies" in the most opprobrious sence [sic] of the word and until we start kicking with a vengeance instead of grumbling among ourselves we can expect no better.
1966
My informants stated that in St. John's, the provincial capital, (which is not situated in one of the large Newfoundland bays) a person from another coastal settlement is derisively called a bayman /béymәn/, especially if his appearance or speech indicates rusticity. Other less general terms which they had heard were bay-wop /béywàp/, bay-noddy /béynàdiy/, outport man /áwtpↄrt+mæn/, and outharbour man /áwthærbәr+mæn/.
1975
My first few months at the Academy were not very pleasant; I was called a "Bay noddie" by the St. John's boys. They spoke with a different accent; in that part of Newfoundland the Irish predominated and the boys delighted to make fun out of any difference, especially in the new boy.
1990
Another student who was also at MUC in the early 1940s and at Mount Allison thereafter found he "fitted in better" with students from the Maritimes than with people from St. John's, "because I was an outport bay noddy, and they were townies."
2007
Sometimes her people teased her for marrying a "Gander Bay Noddy," a reference to the fulmar, which nods its head in flight. In self-defence we called her people "Fogo Jumpers."

References

  • DNE
  • COD-2
  • EDD
  • Templeman (1945)
  • OED-3